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Rachael
Schmitmeyer and her brother Jacob show off one of their heifers
as they prepared for several Junior Fair Dairy events at the Darke
County Fair. Rachael and two brothers showed six heifers and one steer.
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Showing,
working with livestock a learning process
By Bob Robinson
GREENVILLE – “We give Dorothy blueberry flavored pellets,” said Rachael
Schmitmeyer. Dorothy was one of the heifers to be judged in the Junior
Fair Dairy Show Aug. 19. “She doesn’t like the regular pellets we use
to supplement her feed, so we give her blueberry flavored ones.”
Dorothy, however, wasn’t one of the heifers Rachael was showing.
In a family with six kids, Rachael and two of her brothers were showing
seven animals; six heifers and a steer. Rachael had three of the
heifers. “I’m showing Dollie, Leabelle and Belle,” she said.
A few minutes earlier her youngest brother, Jacob, had said “You want
to see my heifer?”
“Sure.”
He led the way to the other side of the Dairy Barn and pointed out
Dorothy. He was pleased to show his family’s animals, although he was
actually unable to show one himself.
“Next year he can,” his sister Rachel said. “You have to be 10.”
The Greenville High School senior explained they pick out their animals
in June and begin working with them to get them “tame.” She clarified…
“Get them used to being around us all the time. Then a week before the
fair we clip them.”
Once at the fair, they work about two and a half hours a day… grooming,
washing and clipping. On Monday (Aug. 19) the Dairy Show started at 9
a.m.
By noon, Rachael had shown two of her three heifers in the Grade A
competition. The first heifer placed sixth. The second, Leabelle, had
just completed judging and finished seventh. The third was still to
come that afternoon.
Rachael acknowledged being a little disappointed but noted “it’s how
the judge looks at it.”
She also allowed she could have been better prepared.
“I could have worked a little more,” she said. “It’s been pretty busy
this summer.”
Regardless of the ribbon, she said she learns something every time she
shows and she’s been doing it since the age of nine.
She felt much of it had to do with the owner’s showmanship qualities…
“It’s how you handle your calf.”
Rachael plans to go to a technical school for nutrition. “Kind of like
a dietitian,” she said. She didn’t plan on going into farming herself
although she hoped to be able to marry a farmer some day.
“I would enjoy still living on a farm.”
Story courtesy of
The Early Bird
See complete photo set of the event at Community
Events Photo Gallery
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